


Time Together, How Sweet

by mousewritings



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Confessing Feelings, Developing Relationship, Fluff and Humor, M/M, going to a store... being within six feet of someone i don't live with... what a naive fantasy, haha! characters having wacky hijinks at a store!! how funny :), me finishing this fic at the end of march:, me starting this fic at the beginning of march:
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23415868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mousewritings/pseuds/mousewritings
Summary: Espio and Silver shop for Charmy's birthday present at the big box toy store
Relationships: Espio the Chameleon & Silver the Hedgehog, Espio the Chameleon/Silver the Hedgehog
Comments: 8
Kudos: 41





	Time Together, How Sweet

**Author's Note:**

> Characters Going to an Establishment and Getting Kicked out of/Having to Leave Said Establishment is apparently something i write a lot
> 
> also i'm imagining this fic to take place after team sonic racing, but in the idw continuity. it's not a big part of the fic, though, so whatever you bring to it is fine
> 
> enjoy!

“Ooh, how about this?” Silver excitedly points out a construction set with interlocking plastic pieces.

Espio shakes his head. “An admirable choice, but Charmy might eat the blocks.”

Silver looks questioningly at him. “He’d do that?”

“No, but it’s possible. And that is reason enough to not get it.”

“Oh. Okay. Next aisle, then!”

Espio pushes the cart after him. He’s still not sure why he let Silver join him on his trip to the toy store to shop for Charmy’s birthday. It’s not like they’ve hung out much after stopping Eggman Nega’s plot to destroy the future with a fire monster or whatever, and it’s not like Silver’s _that_ invested in what gift Espio should get for Charmy. He guesses it’s nice, though, having the company. At least Silver’s not yelling at him about the month’s expenditures and whatnot.

“Oh, what about these?” Silver exclaims, bounding to a rack absolutely stuffed with blind boxes. He pulls out a handful and holds them out to Espio with a grin. “I’ve seen so many commercials for these! It seems like they’re pretty popular with kids in this time!”

Espio has also seen those commercials. He grimaces. “No, absolutely not,” he says. “The entire point of this gimmick is to empty parents’ bank accounts in their futile attempts to find specific toys. If I get Charmy even one of these, the agency will be bankrupt within hours.”

Silver frowns, says, “Oh,” and stuffs the capsules back in their box.

They wander through the store for a good ten minutes and come up with nothing. Espio turns down everything Silver suggests: board games (Charmy will lose the pieces); educational tools (Charmy will never touch those, ever); slime kits (Charmy will start an ASMR channel and neither Espio nor Vector would have the heart to tell him it sucks); and so on. The only thing Espio’s receptive to is a wooden stick, which Silver immediately rejects as “bad” and “why?”

Eventually Silver lets out a long, defeated sigh. “Well, we’ve gone through almost the entire store,” he says. “There’s not much left to—”

He suddenly gasps. Espio turns to see what exactly has him so excited and comes face-to-face with an aisle full of fashion dolls and action figures. Before he can react, Silver’s saying, “Come on!” and pulling Espio over there. They leave the cart behind.

“Silver, what are you doing?” Espio asks.

Silver doesn’t reply as he lets Espio go. He takes stock of the inventory, pulls a box off the shelf, and turns to him with a playful smile. “Hi!” he says, pitching his voice high and moving the box like the doll inside is talking. “My name’s Noodle! What’s yours?”

Espio watches this with a confused glare. Then he looks at Silver. “Again,” he says, “what are you doing?”

“Aw, come on, Espio!” Silver’s moving the box again. “Have some fun for a bit! What’s your name?”

Espio keeps looking at him, and he can’t quite stop his mouth from twitching into a small grin. He glances at the action figures and chooses some random superhero. “My name is Dango,” he says, deepening his voice and moving the box likewise, “and Noodle is a ridiculous name.”

Silver beams.

They end up constructing an elaborate plot in which Noodle and Dango must team up to rescue the mayor from the clutches of the evil Lord Worm, who has planted a bomb in the planet’s core that will explode unless the city surrenders its supply of rare and dangerous minerals. But the mayor got the minerals from an illegal mineral-trafficking ring and if they surrender the minerals, the feds will find out about it— _and Lord Worm is actually Dango’s long-lost sibling and also Noodle’s father?!_ Espio did _not_ see that coming.

Somehow they go from playing with the dolls to building a fort out of the dolls’ boxes, and then from building a fort out of the dolls’ boxes to ransacking the sports equipment, and _then_ from ransacking the sports equipment to racing laps around the store on skateboards. After the third lap, Espio thinks he sees a shortcut through the home playset aisle. He catches a sturdy-looking pole with his tail, whips around it, and zooms down the aisle like lightning. He’s getting to the end, he’ll finally overtake Silver, he can see victory in his grasp—but before he can get back on the hypothetical track and gloat in Silver’s face, a cat and their shopping cart suddenly appear in the walkway.

“Look out!” he shouts at them. He tries to maneuver out of way as the cat ducks and screams; he manages to just scrape by their cart and miss them entirely. He looks back to call out a quick, “Apologies!” and ends up crashing into a screaming Silver. They land in a couple of conveniently placed beanbag chairs.

Espio lies there for a bit. He can feel still, which is good, but it’s terrible. Silver’s weird cuffs from the future freaking hurt.

“Ugh,” he groans. “Silver?”

He looks over at him and sees his shoulders shaking. _Oh no_ , he thinks. _He’s dying and I’m the one who killed him_. But then he hears Silver’s loudening laughter. Soon he’s laughing hard, almost hysterical, his arms clutching his stomach. It’s as contagious as it is worrying. Espio finds himself chuckling along.

“Oh my god, that was _incredible!_ ” Silver exclaims, shooting up onto his feet. He turns to Espio with a wide smile and all the joy in the world. “Are you okay?!”

Espio laughs out loud, which sounds strange even to him. “I’m fine,” he says, even though he’d rather not move and also he wants to die. “But I thought you were able to levitate. Does skateboarding somehow cancel out your powers?”

Silver’s grin turns a little confused. “Uh, no?” he says. “Or at least it shouldn’t. I mean, I’m not sure. I haven’t really tested that yet.”

“Ah,” Espio says after a brief, baffled moment. He’d forgotten how dense Silver could be. He guesses it really has been a while since they spent any time together. “Apologies. I was making a small joke at your expense. Uh—not in a cruel way. You know. Because you can levitate, and I was implying that you would’ve been able to avoid the collision. But in a joking manner. So.”

Silver pauses, narrows his eyes—and then he exclaims, “Oh! Yeah!” He bursts out in another round of boisterous laughter and, to Espio’s relief, smooths over the awkwardness of the moment. “Well, I thought you were a ninja! You suddenly can’t dodge or something?”

_That_ gets another laugh out of him. “Good one.”

“Thanks! I’ve been working on my trash talk. What do you think?”

“I’d say you’re getting better.”

“Like, excuse me?” someone says.

They finally look away from each other to see a bear wearing the standard uniform of all employees of the store.

“Hi!” Silver says.

“Uh, hi,” the bear replies. “So, like, you need to leave.”

Espio stares past the bear and at the store beyond. He suddenly realizes that they’ve wrecked several displays, destroyed all the sports aisles, used the entire doll aisle and its stock to build a fort, and nearly injured a customer, possibly mortally.

“That’s fair,” he says.

Silver helps him out of the beanbag, apologizes profusely to the bear, and then they leave. They head down the street, empty-handed.

It’s a silent moment before Silver says, “Sorry, Espio.”

Espio glances at him. “What for?”

“I got us kicked out of the store,” he replies with a sigh. “And you couldn’t find a present for Charmy. I shouldn’t have badgered you into doing something so pointless.”

Espio frowns. “You didn’t badger me into anything, Silver,” he says. “And besides, I had fun.”

Silver turns a grin on him. “Really?”

He grins back. “Yeah,” he says, his body still in considerable pain. “I did.”

Silver’s shoulders visibly relax. “Good. I’m glad.” He turns back to the sidewalk, a smile still on his face. “I’ve never really had a lot of opportunities to just play and hang out like that, you know? I’m always so preoccupied with having literally the worst timeline ever and trying to fix it and make everything okay that at some point, everything else just kinda… stopped mattering as much.” He looks back at Espio. “So thanks. It means a lot, spending this time with you.”

Espio’s mouth goes dry. He wants to respond, but he can’t quite form the words in his head. He just keeps looking at Silver, sees the soft curve of his smile, sees the way his eyes hold onto his—

Right. _This_ is why he let Silver join him.

Silver’s brow furrows. “Uh, Espio?”

Espio blinks and says, “Huh?”

Silver’s brow furrows even more. “Are you okay?”

“U-uh. Yes.” He clears his throat and realizes that they stopped walking at some point. He tries not to focus on how the sunlight hits Silver’s quills and, like a miserable failure, fails miserably. “Um. Silver. I’m. Uh.” He chokes.

Silver frowns. “Do you wanna sit down somewhere?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Espio quickly replies. He pauses. “I know a place.”

They cross an intersection, and then Espio takes a right. He leads Silver down a couple blocks. When Silver sees where they’re headed, he gasps again, exclaims, “Oh my gosh!” and runs the rest of the way. Espio smiles. This time, he follows.

Silver’s already found a spot in the park. He’s lying under a flowering tree, the soft grass cushioning his back, and he’s gazing up at the branches above and the sky beyond. Espio sits down next to him. The voices and bustle of the other people in the park sound far away.

“This is nice,” Silver says. “The city and the buildings and everything were making me feel a little cramped. I love how people in this time still make space for nature, even in places like these.” He lets out a deep, slow sigh. “I’m happy that people still care.”

Espio watches the shadows dance over Silver’s face. He still vividly remembers his—thankfully—brief trip to Silver’s time. He’s not surprised Silver’s so determined to change it. If their situations were reversed, Espio would certainly try to. “Is that why you keep coming back? I mean, besides fixing your timeline.”

Silver smiles softly. “Yeah. Like, how could I not? The sky’s so blue! And the air’s clear and everything’s just… _alive_ , you know? And…”

He falls silent. Espio sees his shoulders tense, just a little, and he’s surprised when he sees a faint blush appear on Silver’s cheeks.

“And,” Silver says, glancing at Espio, “there’s someone I like here.”

Espio stares at him. Had he heard that correctly? But, yes—Silver holds onto his gaze for a moment more before his blush consumes his face and makes him turn away. Espio tries to say a word while choking at the same time; it comes out as a weird wheeze.

Silver looks back at him, clearly concerned. “Espio? Seriously, are you okay? We can go back to the agency if you—”

“I’m fine,” he insists.

Silver does not seem convinced. “Okay?”

“I-in fact,” he goes on, “I think that someone you like… likes you back.”

There’s silence for a bit. Silver blinks at him. Espio wonders if he had made a mistake and/or should sit in a ditch for eternity. Wait, is he sweating right now? Is he even capable of doing that?? Oh god.

“… What?” Silver eventually says.

“What?” Espio replies.

“What?”

“Huh?”

Silver stares at him. “What are you—wait. Wait a minute.” His eyes go wide. “Wait. Espio? Are you saying that…? Do you…?”

He trails off, his face going red again. Espio doubts he’ll ever get tired of the sight. He swallows down his anxiousness and takes a breath.

“Yes,” he says. “I—I like you as well. I think I have for a while, but I’ve never had a good time to tell you. I’m sure you understand.”

Silver’s laugh turns into a very loud snort. “Yeah! We always have something going on, don’t we?”

“It certainly feels like it, yes.” Espio lets his gaze linger. “But… I’m glad I have the chance to tell you now.”

Silver’s expression softens, his grin becoming bashful. “Y-yeah,” he says. “Me, too.”

They sit in silence, comfortable. The wind rustles through the tree, its leaves rhythmically shaking, and they watch as flower petals float away. Occasionally Espio glances at Silver. Sometimes he catches him looking back, and each time it’s enough to make him forget that his body still hurts everywhere. What a moment, he thinks. What a person to spend it with.

“So…” Silver says, fidgeting with his cuffs. “Uh… now what?”

Espio blinks. Oh, right. The whole reason they’re here is because they’d gone to the toy store for an important reason or something. He sighs. “Well, I still need to find Charmy a present for his birthday,” he replies. “He’ll be gravely disappointed if I don’t have one in time.”

Silver actually giggles at that. “I meant about us, but that’s important too!”

“O-oh. Well—yes. Um.” Espio hasn’t really thought about that. What’s Silver expecting, exactly? He’s never actually done something like this before, and Silver probably hasn’t either. And, god—he’s _not_ going to ask Vector. Vector never gives good advice, no matter what he says. Espio’s learned that lesson already.

His mind’s still turning when Silver puts his hand over his, gives him a soothing grin, and says, “Hey, it’s fine. Like, it sounds weird coming from me, but we have time, you know?” He looks back up at the sky and lets out a contented sigh. “And right now, it’s a beautiful day.”

Espio seriously considers saying, _But not as beautiful as you_ , but he decides he doesn’t want to ruin this relationship _that_ soon. Instead, he follows Silver’s line of sight, looks at the flowers above, and turns his hand so it fits into Silver’s. “It is. And I still have Charmy’s present to think about.”

Silver giggles again, and Espio feels his grip tighten comfortably. “One thing at a time, Espio,” he says. “One thing at a time.”

**Author's Note:**

> #LetCharmyStartAnASMRChannel


End file.
